Afghanistan v Scotland to be streamed live

28 Feb

Four matches of the crucial fifth round to be streamed worldwide and made available free to viewers

The ICC today announced live streaming of 16 matches from the remaining three rounds of the Pepsi ICC World Cricket League (WCL) Championship 2011-2013, commencing with the crucial fifth round fixtures that kick off in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 6 March.

This is the first time multiple WCL Championship matches will be broadcast to a global audience. Four games of the upcoming fifth round will be streamed live at www.icc-cricket.com, and viewers will be able to watch all matches free of charge.

Tim Anderson, the ICC's Global Development Manager, said: “This live coverage marks another important step in the ICC’s objective to shine a brighter light on the elite cricket being played by the top Associate and Affiliate Members.

“The significant context of these WCL Championship matches can also not be underestimated. With two places in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 on the line, all teams have a significant prize to play for,” Mr Anderson added.

In the first live broadcasts of the fifth round, Afghanistan takes on second-placed Scotland in two ODIs, on 6 and 8 March respectively, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, a match-up Afghanistan must win to stay in contention for a top-two finish.

In the other live broadcast fixture of round five, table-topper Ireland faces host UAE on 18 and 20 March, also at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

UAE will be looking to pick up some points from these fixtures to keep its automatic qualification hopes alive, while two wins for Ireland would see Ireland take a significant step to cementing a place in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015.

In other fifth-round fixtures, Kenya takes on Canada in two ODIs at the ICC Global Cricket Academy in Dubai on 11 and 13 March, while Namibia hosts third-placed Netherlands on 16 and 18 April.

The sixth and penultimate round of the WCL Championship will be played during July and August 2013, while the final round matches will be staged in September and October 2013.